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1 – 10 of over 2000This paper examines the drivers of brain gain by investigating the motivations of migrants who plan to return and contribute to their home country. It focuses on highly skilled…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the drivers of brain gain by investigating the motivations of migrants who plan to return and contribute to their home country. It focuses on highly skilled Sudanese migrants in Japan, including a group of “plan-to-return” migrants (P-group), who intend to gain knowledge abroad that they will use to contribute to their homeland upon their return.
Design/methodology/approach
The participants are 24 highly skilled Sudanese migrants in Japan, 10 of whom are part of the P-group. To understand their motivation to contribute to their home country, the study applies the qualitative life course approach, using Elder's four life course themes: lives in time and space, the timing of lives, linked lives and human agency.
Findings
The P-group is characterised by a high level of motivation for self-development, which motivates them to study abroad. The analysis finds that the P-group's drive to contribute had been nurtured by a spirit of mutual aid in Sudanese society, which emphasises Islamic values and social ties. Religious norms, personal interactions and emotional ties to Sudan are especially influential on the P-group's motivation to contribute to their home society.
Originality/value
This study identifies drivers that lead to brain gain. Whereas previous studies have noted the relationship between return intentions and willingness to contribute to the home countries; they have not investigated influences on motivations to contribute. The results suggest that Sudan might already possess a system for local human resource development to encourage brain gain.
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John H. Bickford III and Molly Sigler Bickford
State and national education initiatives have significantly increased expectations of students’ non-fiction reading and writing. These initiatives provide the space for potential…
Abstract
State and national education initiatives have significantly increased expectations of students’ non-fiction reading and writing. These initiatives provide the space for potential interdisciplinary units in English/language arts and social studies/history centered on content area reading and writing. To do so, teachers must locate age-appropriate, historically representative curricular materials and implement discipline-specific writing prompts. To guide elementary teachers’ instruction, we select a novel, underused topic: the birth of the Republic of South Sudan. Age-appropriate children’s trade books are coupled with diverse informational texts—oral histories, current event news articles, and artwork—to extend the trade books’ narratives into the realm of current events. We suggest content area literacy strategies, share anecdotes from their application in the classroom, and recommend engaging, inquiry-based writing prompts that induce students to revisit understandings derived from close readings of the trade books and informational texts. In doing so, all texts and tasks explicitly are connected to different elements of the state and national initiatives in order to help teachers meet the rigorous standards.
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Arguing that a gendered invisibility surrounding climate justice contributes to the overall vulnerability and burden placed upon the ability of women from disadvantaged…
Abstract
Purpose
Arguing that a gendered invisibility surrounding climate justice contributes to the overall vulnerability and burden placed upon the ability of women from disadvantaged communities, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of developing a participative gender framework for climate justice with the potential to address the policy and programme vulnerability gap within climate change and conflict in Sudan’s Savannah Belt.
Design/methodology/approach
In utilising gender responsive discourse analysis, along with setting out the history of gender engagement within social forestry, this paper examines both the method of Sudan’s reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) development and its content.
Findings
The paper’s findings demonstrate that the REDD+ programme in Sudan provides ample evidence of the importance of integrating climate justice and gender approaches to policy, programming and projects through ensuring women and local community participation at all levels and interaction within policy and programme development, along with its implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is theoretical in nature but did draw upon case studies and consultations, and the author was involved in some of the research.
Originality/value
The paper provides a positive and arguably original example of social forestry within the Savannah Belt and its utilisation as a best practice that has fed into Sudan’s REDD+ Proposal/Policy Document so as to potentially drive and streamline similar such initiatives across Sudan.
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The purpose of this paper is to portray four scenarios for the future of Sudan in the year 2012. On the basis of these scenarios it aims to draw a number of conclusions on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to portray four scenarios for the future of Sudan in the year 2012. On the basis of these scenarios it aims to draw a number of conclusions on the future of Sudan and the way ahead.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the Shell methodology for scenario building and is based on five scenario workshops held in Sudan, one in The Netherlands, interviews and literature research. The four scenarios not only intend to provide an overview of what is likely to happen, but also aim to be plausible, challenging and creative.
Findings
The paper finds that the future of Sudan is likely to remain violent and that the most optimistic scenario is also the least likely. It concludes that, although outside mediation and assistance in the organization of elections are needed, the critical difference between a successful and an unsuccessful outcome will to a large extent be determined by whether the South has a stable, cooperative and confident leadership.
Practical implications
The paper provides a number of policy recommendations for the international community to prevent the worst from happening and to be prepared for what may come.
Originality/value
The paper aims to fill the gap in future foresight with regard to Sudan and for this purpose utilized the knowledge among the Sudanese themselves.
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The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been mediating the South Sudan conflict since 2013. IGAD’s intervention in South Sudan is anchored on its founding norm…
Abstract
Purpose
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been mediating the South Sudan conflict since 2013. IGAD’s intervention in South Sudan is anchored on its founding norm of peaceful settlement of regional conflicts and in reference to the principle of subsidiarity, under the Africa Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). However, it is puzzling how violence continued unabated even as conflict parties negotiated and signed numerous agreements under the auspices of IGAD. The parties to conflict seem unwilling to implement the 2018 peace agreement, which is arguably un-implementable. Yet, it appears that IGAD mediators were privy to this situation all along. The question that then arises is why IGAD would continue engaging in a mediation process that neither ends violence nor offers a promise of a resolution? Drawing out on empirical data, this paper argues that IGAD’s organisational structures and functionality are key to understanding and explaining the South Sudan phenomenon within broader discourses on peace and security regionalism in Africa. This paper suggests the need to pay attention to the embeddedness of political power dynamics in the structures and functionality of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs), such as IGAD, as one of the ways to (re)thinking and (re)orienting norms and practices of regional conflict management within the APSA and in pursuit of the “African solutions to African problems.”
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this paper was obtained through document reviews and 39 elite interviews. The interviews were conducted with representatives of IGAD member states, bureaucrats of IGAD and its organs mediation support teams, conflict parties, diplomats and other relevant experts purposively selected based on their role in the mediation. The physical interviews were conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, with others conducted virtually. Analysis and presentation of findings are largely perspectival, highlighting coexistence of contending peacemaking ideas and practices. The discussions centre around inter-linked themes of IGAD’s conceptions of peace and approaches to peacemaking as informed by its structural and functional designs.
Findings
Findings illustrate the complexity of the peace process and the centrality of power politics in IGAD’s peace and security arrangements. In view of the findings, this paper echoes the need for enhanced and predictable collaborative framework between IGAD and the African Union (AU) as central to the operationalisation of the APSA and pursuit of the African solutions to the African problems. Hence, this paper suggests transforming IGAD’s political program into a robust political bureau with predictable interlinkages and structured engagements between IGAD’s heads of state and government and the APSA’s Panel of the Wise (PoW).
Originality/value
The study is based on empirical data obtained through the researcher's own framed questions, and its argument is based on the researcher's own interpretations innovatively framed within existing theoretical framework, particularly hybrid peace theory. Based on the findings, this paper makes bold and practical recommendations for possible workable collaborative framework between IGAD and the AU under the APSA framework
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of the Sudanese manufacturing sector to the Sudanese economy and assess the role that aerospace industry, in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of the Sudanese manufacturing sector to the Sudanese economy and assess the role that aerospace industry, in particular, can play as a driver for achieving sustainable development in the Sudan.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviewed and analysed the contribution of the industrial sector to the Sudanese economy based on the comprehensive industrial survey carried out with the assistance of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and United Nations Development Programme in 2001. It then went on to assess the role that aerospace industry can play in improving the contribution of this sector to the Sudanese and regional economy and achieving sustainable development. Evidence from global industrial views, international economic reports and experience of other countries in similar situation as the Sudan was used to support arguments.
Findings
The Sudanese economy is agriculturally based. A heavy injection of industrialisation of the economy is essential in order to improve the trade balance and help the country out of the poverty zone. The aerospace industry is an important ingredient of the required dose as the global and regional demand is high and the flourishing regional economy is encouraging. The paper argues that building a flourishing aerospace industry as an important element of sustainable development plan for the Sudan is a shared responsibility of good government, quality education and well-guided investment.
Practical implications
The paper is proposing a practical way to transform the character of the Sudanese economy and help it to set on a sustainable development path that will alleviate poverty and improve the standard of living of its citizens.
Originality/value
The paper gives critical assessment of the role of the industrial sector in driving the Sudanese economy, which is seriously lacking in the literature. Additionally, the paper introduces building a flourishing aerospace industry in the Sudan as an important ingredient to boost the manufacturing sector, hence, improve the economy, fight poverty and a step towards achieving sustainable development.
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Mesbah Fathy Sharaf and Abdelhalem Mahmoud Shahen
This study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric impact of external debt on inflation in Sudan from 1970 to 2020 within a multivariate framework by including money supply…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric impact of external debt on inflation in Sudan from 1970 to 2020 within a multivariate framework by including money supply and the nominal effective exchange rate as additional inflation determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilize an Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to examine the symmetric impact of external debt on inflation, while the asymmetric impact is examined using a Nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model. The existence of a long-run relationship between inflation and external debt is tested using the bounds-testing approach to cointegration, and a vector error-correction model is estimated to determine the short parameters of equilibrium dynamics.
Findings
The linear ARDL model results show that external debt has no statistically significant impact on inflation in the long run. On the contrary, the results of the NARDL model show that positive and negative external debt shocks statistically affect inflation in the long run. The estimated long-run elasticity coefficients of the linear and nonlinear ARDL models reveal that the domestic money supply has a statistically significant positive impact on inflation. In contrast, the nominal effective exchange rate has a statistically significant negative impact on inflation.
Practical implications
The reliance on symmetric analysis may not be sufficient to uncover the existence of a linkage between external debt and inflation. Proper external debt management is crucial to control inflation rates in Sudan.
Originality/value
To date, no empirical study has assessed the external debt-inflation nexus and its potential asymmetry in Sudan, and the current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.
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Samia Satti Osman Mohamed Nour and Eltayeb Mohamedain Abdalla
Different from the previous studies in the Sudanese literature, this study aims to examine the incidence and of food security, the variation in households' food insecurity between…
Abstract
Purpose
Different from the previous studies in the Sudanese literature, this study aims to examine the incidence and of food security, the variation in households' food insecurity between localities and the adaptation and survival strategy in Kassala State as a case study of Eastern Sudan.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses the measurement of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and uses new primary data from a Food Security Household Survey in Kassala State (2019) and uses the descriptive analysis to discuss the measurement of HFIAS, the incidence of food security, the variation in households' food insecurity between localities and the adaptation and survival strategy in Kassala State.
Findings
The authors find that the majority of household (77%) are food-insecure of various degrees, with 32.9% being severely food-insecure, while some households are food-secure (23%). The authors find support for their hypothesis that there will be variation in households' food insecurity between localities that most probably relate to variation in the distribution of monthly income between localities. In particular, the authors find that most households in rural areas are severely food-insecure.
Originality/value
This paper provides a significant contribution to the Sudanese and international literature because it discusses the incidence of food insecurity in Sudan. Different from the two other accompanying papers that focused on the determinants of food security in Kassala State using the measurement of HFIAS and determinants of production of food and consumption of food in Kassala State, this paper focuses on the incidence of food security in Kassala State using the measurement of HFIAS.
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Mohamed Osman Shereif Mahdi and Patrick Dawson
This article sets out to draw on new empirical research to illustrate how the process of technological change is shaped by a combination of contextual elements that relate to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article sets out to draw on new empirical research to illustrate how the process of technological change is shaped by a combination of contextual elements that relate to the political and social history of Sudan. The developments in infrastructure, relationships with economically powerful industrialized countries, and the attitudes and perceptions of key decision makers are discussed
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data were collected from fieldwork conducted in Sudan for six months, and this was combined with secondary data that were collected from several conventional sources. The design adopted a dual methodological approach that comprised a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. This article draws mainly on the qualitative data set, although a summary is provided of some of the main results from the questionnaire survey.
Findings
The findings highlight the need for bank general managers and IT managers to collaborate in the establishment of IT strategies and in ensuring that there are sufficient staff and budgetary resources for successful implementation. There is also a need to develop comprehensive banking policies in Sudan in order to support the replacement of traditional manual methods of banking with more advanced computer‐based systems. Managing this process is not simply a technical issue, but a complex socio‐political challenge that requires management sensitivity to the context within which change is taking place.
Research limitations/implications
Fieldwork in Sudan was constrained by both time and limited financial resources, and further frustrated by a number of unanticipated access difficulties. Some of the survey findings may have been affected by missing data, and some of the interview data may have been affected by translation from Arabic into English. However, the multi‐strategy research employed in this study did prove effective in generating useful data.
Originality/value
In the case of developing countries, the data sets and literature available are in short supply, and as such the findings contribute to this limited knowledge base in presenting new empirical evidence and analysis. The study highlights the importance of three broad categories – social‐political context, business economic and technological environment, and the historical and cultural climate of Sudan and the banking industry – in shaping the uptake and introduction of new technology in the Sudanese banking industry.
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Yagoub Ali Gangi and Elfadil Timan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how potential entrepreneurs perceived the entrepreneurial environment in Sudan.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how potential entrepreneurs perceived the entrepreneurial environment in Sudan.
Design/methodology/approach
It evaluates economic, political, legal and administrative, socio‐cultural, educational, and infrastructure and public support conditions affecting entrepreneurship development. Furthermore, it examines attitudes of government, Sudanese society, and Sudanese business community towards enhancement of entrepreneurial environment. Data are collected from 236 national potential entrepreneurs through questionnaires. Respondents are asked 45 questions to assess their perception of the main six factors composing the entrepreneurial environment.
Findings
The study revealed that the entrepreneurs perceived economic, education and infrastructure conditions as fair (neither strong nor poor). However, they perceived political, legal, administrative, social and cultural conditions as poor. Factors that contributed in shaping these conditions are government policies, and social and cultural beliefs of Sudanese society.
Originality/value
The study is the first contribution to the literature on the Sudan entrepreneurship environment.
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